Pursuit of an ultra

Work has really consumed my time since the elk hunt and getting in the needed miles has been a struggle. I have had minimum available days to train, so when I do I must get the most out of it. Since most days won’t allow for over and hour I have been looking for opertunities to keep my body in motion. So here is what I do to reach my weekly mileage goals

Incorporate training into my worklife:

my work schedule has been anywhere from 12-18 hour days 5-7 days a week for the last 45 days. Though most of my day is spent in an office the other half is in the operation that allows me to move and spend time on my feet. Here is how I do it.

This gets me in anywhere from 5-7 miles extra a day and 10+ hours of time on my feet

Incorporate more miles into my gym/weight training days

At my local gym there is an indoor track with a small side room that consists of weights, machines, benches, etc... so I skipp the weight room and head straight to this area. What I do next has really increased my mileage and allows for and ever changing routine. Here is what I do on my gym days:

Run 14 laps high pace (this equals a mile)

cool down 1 Laps with 30lb kettle bell farmer walks

sprint 2 Laps cool down with weighted exercises at end of the 2nd lap (repeat until laps total total of 2-3 miles (pick various weighted exercises repeat each 3 times 10- 12 reps)

cool down 1 Laps with 30lb kettle bell farmer walks

run high pace 1 mile

cool down 1 Laps with 30lb kettle bell farmer walks

run 2 laps with body weight excersises between lap 3 times

finish with 1 mile run

This will be a normal routine 3-4 days a week

Home/family time training

with 2 young one’s in the house a lot of days consist me sitting around playing with the kiddos. So I am beginning to use this play time as points to work in some core, stretching, and foam rolling daily to keep the the body limber and recovery active

Additional things I do

Rest days are typically dictated by family and work needs.

long runs 1-2 per month 3 - 5 hours each

During the holidays I will be adding some early morning and late night runs and varied body weight exercises while traveling to main rain my cardio and strength

In the recent weeks I have been focus on confusing my body, adding new movements, new terrain, reversing old routines and I think yesterday was the first day I really noticed the change for the positive. I completed a 5 mile progressive run that just felt awesome. I was strong from the start and finished feeling rejuvenated. My heart rate and breathing was controlled and had a great rhythm to it. Days like this is what reenergizes my enthusiasm for my goal.

Resent consistent changes that that have made a positive impact in my training

Weekly Yoga Session

Increased morning water intake pre-coffee/food to 32oz from 16oz

daily meditation

daily green drink

Increased the frequency of morning cold showers

added an additional meal to my diet

increased my standing time (not sitting) by 3 hours

reduced caffeine intake

Focus on new movements and workouts and reduction of routine style workouts .

Pretty excited I have recorded some of my lowest HRs since I began this journey and see that a sub 50 resting hr rate could be on the horizon befor my event. (Please take into account that 3 years ago my resting HR was almost 100)

I caught an upper respiratory infection over the July 4th holiday sos it slowed my training goals this week. I began Picking up the pace on Friday and hammered out a few great sessions. 2 months to go before our Elk Hunt. Stadiums today really showed me how little I have been focused on hill training so I am going to have to change up my training some to ensure I develop maximum strength for the daily grind of climbing steep terrain at high elevations.

I did not get to spend to much time on my training today due to schedule conflict but still did a bit of work

1 mile warm up jog

3 mile run Sub 150 HR progressive to 10 min miles

15 min stairs sub 160 HR

My resting heartrate has been dropping this past week which is a good sign telling me that I may be recovering from my wreck and minor respiratory virus I have been trying to shake for a while now. Still having some issues but all in all feeling good.

Felt great today, came off a 40 mile week with a few days rest to put in work. I have been feeling under the weather, but today I woke up feeling much better. This week I will be focused on hill strength as the weather may finally let me outside.

Well after my accident I took it easy as many things concerned me. I still have some issues but is not preventing me from training and overall feeling strong. I have upped my milage this week and trying to run 4-5 times a week. I am on target this week for 40+ miles. Last week I did a mid week long run of 12.3 miles but was extremely hot an I had to lower my pace to a slow crawl of 13 min miles. Ill begin posting up my workouts again next week.

Well it has been a rough week. I was in an accident this past week that has put a damper on my training. Several days of stagnation, neck issues, a shoulder pain, and a few sore spots all over is keeping me from training. I am scheduled to get checked out this week so we will see what the doctor orders.

12 miles in, a storm began creeping overhead as flashes of lightning lit the sky and the thunder warned me of its closeness. My pace was okay but begin slowing as the clock ticked. This run reminded me of why I love trail running. I came across 5 alligators, two racoons, a snake, and many birds. On the road you miss these things. The more ground you cover the likelihood of an encounter with with the strange or the new becomes more of a reality. These encounters also minimize the negitive thoughts of the moment. Misjudged your nutrition, add some fatigue and thoughts become roadblocks. But nature tends to heal and push you on.

This wasn't my best run I definitely did myself no favor the last few days. I came into the run caloric deficient and I could feel this on mile 7. I started out at a 9 min mile and leveled out around 11. After 2 miles of loose rocks miss puddles and a blazing sun I could tell the added stress had more to do with my food than the pounding of my feet. It slowed me to about a 12 min mile till I hit the dirt again but the effects of the day prior began to take hold. I refueled and hydrated at 6 but a bit to late to recover back to a 10 min mile immediately. I recovered around 10 miles and picked up the pace again. Then the storm moved in forcing me to turn around at mile 13 to end my run at a bit over 14 miles. I made mistakes by eating to few calories the day prior and a nutrient deficient meal the morning of. You live in learn, but success comes not of what I do today but what I learned and how I change for tomorrow. I fell short of my goal of 20 miles due to the lightening but all in all it was a good run and learned a lesson in my eating.

This workout was higher intensity/short duration with little recovery times between workouts. The consistency of my workouts and nutrition have improved after several back to back weekends out of town. Coming off the backpack trip to the Eagle Rock Loop and having multiple rest days I can notice improvements in my speed during aerobic threshold training.

Today felt great, my eating this week was much cleaner than last, and could really feel the difference. I usually start with a 3.7-4.0 Mph incline warm up walk before I do my run but today I went straight into a Cold start run to see if my body is adapting better to Cold starts. I must say with a solid week of eating good, great sleep, and active days leading up I felt an improvement. Cold starts are important to me. When in the backcountry, it is normal for me to sit for an extended period of time and then have to go and hit it hard, this has been one of my biggest struggles.

Training Duration: 2 hours

Workouts: 7 mile treadmill run 3% incline

Avg Pace 9.80/mi

Avg Hr 148

Total Body Circuit 30 min

Recovery Stretches, foam rolling, etc..

Nutrition:

4 eggs, Bacon, and Sausage

Shrimp PoBoy

Cheese

Strawberries

Protein Shake w/Spinach, Kale, Blueberry, and, peanut butter

Spaghetti with Meat Sause (replaced Noodles with zucchini)

Mtn Ops Pre Work out Supplement

Electrolytes – No Sugar

Magnesium

Antioxidants

Mtn Ops – OX

I felt very strong during this workout, it was truly a fun run, my mood was high, no pain, just felt great.

Today I am going to start tracking my progress, stats, and feelings of each training day. I will be honest about my meals, feelings, and weeknesses. I am doing this because each run I begin pondering if this goal of my 100 mile ultra is even viable. Somedays I feel like I am on top of the world and others a total failure. I am mentally prepared but physically I know I am still lacking. Injuries come and go but I wonder if I am doing more harm than good. I know I am stronger today than when I started this, but just need to start documenting so I figured why not just share it with the world. So here is yesterday’s workout.

Training Duration: 2 hours

Workouts:

7 mile treadmill run 3% incline

Avg Pace 11:28/mi

Avg Hr 161

200 Step ups 100 each leg

Upper body Weight Circuit to failure single set high reps

Core work till failure

Nutrition:

Fasted till 11:30am

Smoked bone in Chicken Half

Mushrooms

Herb roasted Red Potatoes

Cheese

Mixed Berries

Protein Shake w/Spinach, Kale, Blueberry, and, peanut butter

Baked Chicken

Mtn Ops Pre Work out Supplement

Electrolytes – No Sugar

Magnesium

Antioxidants

Mtn Ops – OX

I felt very strong during this workout, I started of slow, sluggish, and unmotivated on the run but finished happy, strong, and able to go on.

Note: this was my first hard workout coming off a 4 day backcountry 20+ mile hiking/fishing basckpack trip. The Tuesday after the trip I did a 3 mile recovery run and weight workout with a total duration 1:15